7.7% of 5.6 crore kids were found malnourished in February, Lok Sabha told

NEW DELHI: The government informed the Lok Sabha on Friday that 7.7% (about 43 lakh) children were found malnourished (moderate and severe) out of approximately 5.6 crore children measured in February as per ‘Poshan Tracker’, the ICT application for monitoring service delivery under Mission Poshan. This information was shared by minister for women and child development Smriti Irani in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha on Friday.
Sharing overall insights from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) in response to the question, Irani highlighted that the prevalence of stunting, wasting and being underweight among children under five years of age as per the survey was 35.5%, 19.3% and 32.1% respectively. The prevalence of being underweight among women was 18.7%. As per the survey, 7.7% children under five years of age are severely wasted.
Meghalaya reported the highest number of stunting among children under five years at 46.5%, while Puducherry recorded the lowest at 20%. In case of wasting, Maharashtra reported the highest level at 25.6%, while Chandigarh reported the minimum at 8.4%. Bihar reported the maximum percentage of children who are underweight at 41%, while Mizoram reported the minimum percentage at 12.7%.